- Alexandra Fusai 2000 News
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- Saturday 1/1/00
- HAPPY NEW YEAR!
- HAPPY NEW CENTURY!
- HAPPY NEW MILLENIUM!
- Alexandra is "committed" to the Australian Open this year. YEA! Yes, it's in qualifying, about in the middle (#65), but it's all up from there!
- Alexandra might be somewhere "down under" this week, like Auckland, New Zealand, or Thalgo, Gold Coast, Australia, probably as a wild-card qualifier, then maybe at Sydney, Australia, or Hobart, Australia, the following week - then the Aussie Open.
- Alexandra starts 2000 at #177 singles and #13 doubles. This observer thinks both those numbers will improve this year.
- Make 2000 YOUR year, Alexandra!
- And, most important: HAVE FUN!
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- Tuesday 1/4/00
- Alexandra has a 2000 win! (And a loss....)
- Alexandra made it into the main qualifying (not wild-card) in Auckland and faced Svetlana Krivencheva (ranked #260) in 1st round. It was clearly an exciting match, but Alexandra fell 5-7, 6-2, 4-6. Oh well.....
- The other side of the coin is that Alexandra made the main draw in doubles, with Cara Black as partner (seeded #1!), and faced Leanne Baker/Petra Rampre (a wild-card entry) in 1st round.
- Fusai/Black won! And it was a rout vs. Baker/Rampre: 6-3, 6-1. YEA!
- Next is vs. Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo/Meghann Shaughnessy, probably Thursday. This will be a tougher match, but definitely do-able.
- Win, Alexandra, WIN!
- And HAVE FUN!
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- Thursday 1/6/00
- Alexandra wins again! YEA!
- The #1 seeded Doubles team of Alexandra Fusai/Cara Black has another victory! This time it was Sanchez Lorenzo/Shaughnessy who fell, in 2 sets, 6-4, 6-4. YEA!
- Next, tomorrow (Friday) is vs. the #3 seeded Doubles team Tina Krizan/Katarina Srebotnik. (Cara is also playing singles tomorrow.)
- Win again, Fusai/Black, win again!
- And HAVE FUN!
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- Friday 1/7/00
- Now let's get serious, Alexandra (and Cara): let's win this thing!
- Today Fusai/Black (seeded #1) defeated Krizan/Srebotnik (seeded #3) in a clearly exciting match: 6-2, 7-6(7-4). YEA!
- Tomorrow Cara (seeded #6) faces Anne Kremer (seeded #2) in the singles final (win, Cara, win!), then, "after suitable rest", Fusai/Black (seeded #1) face Barbara Schwartz/Patricia Wartusch (unseeded - but obviously hot) in the doubles final.
- So let's get serious, Alexandra (and Cara) and let's win this Final, OK!
- And HAVE FUN!
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- Saturday 1/8/00
- Congratulations, Alexandra, on your first Title of 2000! (Congratulations to you, too, Cara!)
- Yep, today Fusai/Black defeated Schwartz/Wartusch, coming back from down a set and a break to take the Doubles Championship 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. YEA!
- Looks like that famous Fusai Spirit is runnin' on all cylinders!
- (Cara showed considerable spirit as well in her singles final, getting to 4-all from 1-4 in both sets of her 2-set 6-4, 6-4 loss.)
- This was the premiere of the Fusai/Black team - Alexandra took the initiative - good idea, Alexandra!
- So now it's probably on to Sydney or Hobart. Let's see some more doubles success, and some singles wins, too, okay, Ms. F?
- And HAVE FUN!
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- Wednesday 1/12/00
- Well, Alexandra is skipping Sydney and Hobart because Aussie Open qualifying starts tomorrow (tonight in the US). That makes sense!
- Alexandra's 1st round qualifying match is vs. Shi-Ting Wang on Court 10 at 10 am Thursday, Melbourne time.
- Wang is technically "favored" based on her WTA ranking of #156 (Alexandra is #177) and qualifying ranking of #44 (Alexandra is #65), however, this seems to be a definitely win-able match for Alexandra.
- So win it, pretty gal!
- And be good, do good, take care, and HAVE FUN!
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- Thursday 1/13/00
- Alexandra won!
- Alexandra defeated Shi-Ting Wang in 1st round qualifying at the Australian Open. YEA!
- And it was one heck of a match! (Pardon my French.)
- (What follows is derived from doing manual refreshes about twice/minute on the "Matches in progress" scoreboard, 'cause the Java board wasn't working, so the accuracy is somewhat suspect.)
- Initially, the 1st set looked like this was going to be a dull and sad match - but did that ever change in a hurry!
- The scoreboard went live with the score 1-1 and Wang serving. Wang held easily, then broke Alexandra at love, held again, and broke Alexandra again, this time at 15. So Wang was up 5-1 and serving for the set. Then Alexandra broke Wang, held through a deuce (coming back from 15-40), broke Wang again (at 15), and held through a deuce again! ZOWIE!
- So now it's 5-5, back on serve, and Wang held at love, Alexandra held at 30, and it's tiebreak time. Alexandra took leads of 3-1 and 5-2 but then lost 5 points in a row to lose the tiebreak and the set. Oh well....
- At this point, many girls would have just basically given up, but not our Alexandra!
- Alexandra served first in the 2nd set, and held, then Wang also held. Alexandra then held again, but through 3 deuces, with Wang having a break chance. The next 3 games were fairly tough and close (a deuce, a 40-30, and a deuce), but both players held: 3-3 now.
- Alexandra then put this 2nd set away like a house afire (in a hurry) with a hold at love, a break at 15, and a hold at 15: 6-3. YEA!
- One set each - time to decide this thing! Three holds (at 15, 30, and 30) then Alexandra was broken at 30. Alexandra then broke back at 30, held at 30, and broke again at 30. This put Alexandra up a break, leading 4-3, and serving. This game went through deuce at least 3 times, then....
- Well, then the scoreboard for Court 10 froze, and when it awoke, about an hour later, a new match was being played there. Even now, 12 hours later, no score or result is yet posted at the AusOpen site, but Alexandra is scheduled to play Laura Dell'angelo on Court 14 at 10 am tomorrow (tonight in the US) in 2nd round qualifying, so she must have won! YEA!
- So this is all I know so far about "how it went" (Wang served first): ?-?, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 2-5, 3-5, 4-5, 5-5, 5-6, 6-6, (1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-2, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6, 5-7), 6-7, 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3, 4-3, 5-3, 6-3, 0-1, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-3, 3-3, 4-3, ????.
- This could be the start of something big, Alexandra!
- Dell'angelo, of Italy, is young (18), inexperienced (maybe only 2 major career match wins), WTA ranked #227, and apparently entered qualifying as a wildcard. All these things favor Alexandra. On the other hand, Dell'angelo had an apparently easy time of it today, impressively defeating #17 qualifier Nana Miyagi 6-4, 6-2, while Alexandra had a clearly exhausting (but exhilarating and confidence-building) workout.
- Perhaps tomorrow's (tonight's) match will pit an overconfident (but talented) Dell'angelo vs. a somewhat tired and achy, but fired-up, Alexandra, she of the Incredible Spirit, who knows that victory is always possible.
- So now, Alexandra, just continue to be good, do good, take care, HAVE FUN, and WIN AGAIN!
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- Friday 1/14/00
- Alexandra won again!
- Alexandra defeated Laura Dell'angelo in 2nd round qualifying at the Australian Open. YEA!
- And it was a romp: 6-1, 6-3. YOW!
- Looks like Dell'angelo got a useful lesson in how the real pros play, eh? And Alexandra got another win, some more confidence, and a decent workout without having to climb a mountain like yesterday.
- (By the way, yesterday's score is finally posted: it reveals that Alexandra won the last 3 games, so the victory over Shi-Ting Wang was 6-7(5-7), 6-3, 6-3. It took over 2 hours. Today's match was only a little over an hour.)
- The Java scoreboard was working pretty much right today, so I got a good idea of how it happened (Dell'angelo served first): 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 4-1, 5-1, 6-1, 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 5-3, 6-3. YEA!
- In more detail: the 1st 2 games both went through a deuce - Alexandra won both. Then Alexandra got a break at 15, held at 30, and led 4-0. Dell'angelo then held at 15, Alexandra held at 30, then Alexandra put the set away with a break at 15: 6-1. YEA!
- In the 2nd set, Alexandra held at 15, then got a break at 15: 2-0. But then Alexandra was broken at love. Oops! Then Alexandra got the break back, at 15 (3-1), held through a deuce (4-1), and seemed to be rolling again. But it wasn't over yet! Dell'angelo held and broke Alexandra and we were back on serve, 4-3, with Dell'angelo serving. Uh-oh! Alexandra did manage to put the thing away fairly quickly then with a break at love and a hold at 30: 6-3. YEA!
- This was not a totally easy match for Alexandra (are they ever?) - Dell'angelo showed some real spirit of her own, but Alexandra was clearly the better player. It's a win to be plenty proud of, Alexandra, as was yesterday's, of course!
- Next (probably Saturday) is vs. Sandra Kloesel of Germany. Kloesel is WTA ranked #152 and qualifying ranked #39 so is in a sense "favored". She is 20 and has been pro since 16. But she has never cracked the top 100, and Alexandra has about 15 times as many career wins as Kloesel does. So Alexandra may be the real "favorite". It could be quite a battle.
- Kloesel had an "easy" 1st round 6-2, 6-4 over Marion Maruska, then a more difficult 2nd round 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 over Angelika Bachman (who beat #2 qualifier Elena Tatarkova 6-3, 6-3 in 1st round).
- Now: WIN AGAIN, Alexandra! (And be good, do good, take care, HAVE FUN, etc..)
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- Saturday 1/15/00
- Alexandra won an incredible match today!
- This puts her in the 1st round Main Draw at the Australian Open. YEA!
- You can now ROLL ON, Alexandra, and WIN AGAIN!
- Alexandra played an INCREDIBLE match today vs. Sandra Kloesel, and won: 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. YEA!
- Alexandra gains hundreds of FOREVER fans when she plays these INCREDIBLE matches (even when she loses!), and today's match, and Thursday's (and yesterday's, even) has probably added maybe thousands to the true FusaiFan number of perhaps a million or more! These are people who saw her play and afterward what they remember is Alexandra Fusai vs. somebody - maybe they don't even remember if she won or lost - they just remember Alexandra Fusai - and they will never forget - and they will forever smile at and treasure the memory.
- The Java scoreboard was working erratically today, but this seems to be how it went (Kloesel served first): 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 4-1, 4-2, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5, 6-5, 7-5, 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 3-5, 3-6, 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-3, 3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 5-4, 6-4. YEA!
- In more detail: Alexandra got the 1st game, at love, then held at 15 (the 15 was a 1st point double-fault), then Alexandra broke again, through a deuce this time, then held through a deuce: 4-0. Kloesel then held through a deuce (4-1) and broke Alexandra through a deuce (4-2). Kloesel then was broken at 15 (5-2), then Alexandra was broken at love (5-3). Kloesel then held through a deuce (5-4) and Alexandra was broken through a deuce (5-5). Alexandra then broke at 30 (6-5) and held through 5(!) deuces to take the 1st set 7-5. YEA! (This was a very exciting set which lasted almost 1 hour - I envy those in the stands there today!)
- In the 2nd set, Kloesel held through 2 deuces, then broke Alexandra at 30 (it looks like Alexandra had 3 double faults in this game): 0-2. Then Alexandra broke back at 30 (1-2), and held at love (2-2). Kloesel then held through 2 deuces (2-3) and broke Alexandra through a deuce (2-4), and held again through a deuce (2-5). Then Alexandra held through a deuce (3-5), but then Kloesel held at 30 for the set: 6-3. Oh well...
- So now the match is even - it's now a 1 set match.
- 3rd set: Alexandra held at love, then Kloesel held through a deuce. Alexandra was then broken through a deuce (1-2) and Kloesel held at 15 (1-3). Alexandra then held (2-3) and broke (3-3). But Kloesel wasn't done yet! Kloesel then broke back at 30 (3-4), but Alexandra broke back at love (4-4). Then Alexandra held at love (5-4) and broke through a deuce (6-4). YEA!
- Winning this match means Alexandra will get at least $11,000, just for getting into the Main Draw. That ain't hay! Now GO, Alexandra, GO!
- WIN AGAIN! (And be good, do good, take care, HAVE FUN, etc..)
- You are a Main Draw Player (and Winner!), Alexandra! Yes: WIN AGAIN!
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- Monday 1/17/00
- Alexandra's 1st round Main Draw Singles is vs. Lisa Raymond on Court 4 Tuesday, the 2nd match (the 1st is a Men's starting at 10 am, Aussie time).
- Raymond is a good, tough, tenacious player, currently ranked #29, who has been ranked as high as #15.
- It looks like they have met twice before: in 2nd round US Open Sept. 1994 (Raymond won 6-2, 3-6, 6-1) and in 1st round Hannover Feb 1998 (Raymond won 7-6, 6-2).
- Even so, Alexandra is also good, tough, and tenacious, and has won doubles against her (for instance: Fusai/Sidot d. Raymond/Stubbs 6-2, 6-4 at Hilton Head April 1999).
- And Alexandra is playing very well lately, while Raymond lost 1st round (singles and doubles) in Sydney last week.
- So this looks like another truly win-able match for Alexandra. Though it could well be another real battle!
- So WIN this one, Alexandra! DEFEAT RAYMOND!
- (And be good, do good, take care, HAVE FUN, etc..)
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- Tuesday 1/18/00
- Well, Alexandra played very well - but not quite well enough. Lisa Raymond defeated Alexandra Fusai in 1st round Main Draw Singles at the Australian Open 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Oh well....
- It went like this (Alexandra served first): 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 3-4, 3-5, 4-5, 5-5, 6-5, 7-5, 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 4-6, 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, 4-5, 4-6. Oh well....
- Alexandra began the match with a pair of early double-faults, then fought off a break point to make deuce. Another break point was avoided, then Alexandra finally held, although it took 5 chances to do so (6 deuces total). Raymond then held at 15, broke Alexandra at 15, then Alexandra broke back at 15: back on serve - 2-2. Alexandra was then broken at 30, and Raymond held through a deuce, putting her up 4-2. But Alexandra broke back through a deuce (2nd chance) and Raymond held through a deuce: Raymond led 5-3. Alexandra then held at 15, broke Raymond at 30 (3rd chance), and held through 2 deuces (2nd chance), fighting off one break chance: Alexandra led 6-5.
- At this point it poured rain briefly, leading to a delay of about 1 hour. Then Alexandra took the set on a break 7-5 (I don't know any details of this game). YEA!
- In the 2nd set, Alexandra was broken at 15, Raymond held at 15, then Alexandra held, and broke Raymond at 15: back on serve 2-2. Then Alexandra held at love, Raymond held at 30, and Alexandra held at love again to lead 4-3. Raymond then fought off a break chance early, then held through 2 deuces, then broke Alexandra at 30 and held at love to take the set 6-4. Oh well....
- With the match now even, Alexandra took a 2-0 lead with a hold at love and a break through 3 deuces (2nd chance). But Raymond broke back at 30, then held at love: back on serve 2-2. Alexandra held at 15, and Raymond held through a deuce, fighting off a break chance early: 3-3. Alexandra was then broken through 2 deuces, despite a chance to hold early, and Raymond held at 30 for a 5-3 lead. Alexandra then held through 3 deuces (2nd chance), fighting off two match points, despite 2 double-faults. But Raymond took the match with a hold through a deuce (2nd chance): 6-4. Oh well....
- Alexandra's serving seemed excellent in this match, with a 70+% 1st serve basically throughout the match, and "only" 6 double-faults, none of which figured in the scoring. So it's wonderful to see that a service problem, which seemed to exist last year, seems to be gone now. (There were no aces, though.) The stats have Raymond listed for a lot of unforced errors, but Alexandra has a way of forcing "unforced" errors, so I don't give that much significance.
- This was a very good match for Alexandra (she actually won more points than Raymond) - clearly showing that she is currently playing at a level very close to Raymond's #29 ranking. Hopefully, those silly 100+ rankings will be ancient history soon!
- Meanwhile: there's Doubles! Fusai/Tauziat, seeded #4, face Sandra Nacuk/Lenka Nemeckova in 1st round.
- Win, FT, WIN!
- (And be good, do good, take care, HAVE FUN, etc..)
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- Thursday 1/20/00
- Alexandra won today! (Natalie helped.)
- Fusai/Tauziat defeated Nacuk/Nemeckova in 1st round Doubles at the AusOpen today 6-4, 6-1. YEA!
- And it was exciting!
- It went like this (NN served 1st): 0-1, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-3, 3-3, 4-3, 5-3, 5-4, 6-4, 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 4-1, 5-1, 6-1. YEA!
- Nacuk/Nemeckova started with a hold at 30, then FT held at love, then NN held at 15, then FT fought off a break chance early, but was broken through a deuce: NN led 3-1. FT then broke back through a deuce (coming back from 40-15) and held at 15: 3-3. Then FT came back from 40-15 again to get another break (through a deuce, of course), and fought off 2 break chances to hold through 2 deuces: 5-3. NN then held at 30, but FT held at love: 6-4. YEA!
- In the 2nd set FT got a break at 15, then held at 30, then got another break through 2 deuces (fighting off 1 hold chance early): 3-0. FT then held at love, and NN held through 3 deuces (2 break chances): 4-1. FT then held at love and broke at 15: 6-1. YEA!
- It's been a while since FT played - it's nice to see FT is still a happenin' thing! You go girls!
- Now WIN AGAIN!
- (And be good, do good, take care, HAVE FUN, etc..)
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- Sunday 1/23/00
- Well, Fusai/Tauziat did a little stumble today. Oh well....
- Els Callens/Dominique Van Roost defeated Alexandra Fusai/Natalie Tauziat in 2nd round Women's Doubles at the AusOpen today 6-3, 6-3.
- It was more exciting than that score may look, and was strange in some ways, but was a bit of a stumble nonetheless. Oh well. It happens.
- It went like this (FT served 1st): 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, 3-6, 0-1, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 2-5, 3-5, 3-6.
- FT started with a quick hold at 15, then fought CV through a deuce, but CV held. FT was then broken through 2 deuces (1 hold chance), and CV was broken in almost identical fashion (2 deuces, 2 hold chances): 2-2. FT then held at 30 and CV held through a deuce (1 break chance): 3-3. FT was then broken through a deuce (1 hold chance), CV held through a deuce (2nd chance), and FT was broken again through a deuce (2nd chance): 3-6. Uh-oh.
- In the 2nd set, CV held at 30, then FT did the same: 1-1. Then FT fought back from 40-15 to deuce, but CV held. After that, things happened pretty fast. FT was broken at 15, CV held at love, FT held at 15, CV held at 30, FT held at 15, and CV held at 30: 3-6. Oh well....
- The strange thing is this: there were 10 "ad"s - 9 went to CV, only 1 to FT. That's very odd - probably just a fluke - but may have had quite a bit to do with the outcome. Maybe Alexandra's awesome Spirit wasn't all there today for some reason.
- Generally, it was a good AusOpen for Alexandra, though. Ya done good, gal!
- Now it's on to, well, I don't know! But wherever you go from here, Alexandra, just be good, do good, take care, and HAVE FUN, and good things will happen for you naturally.
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- Go: to the next AF 2000 News: click here!